Ab Aberto Review

This will go down as one of the best episodes of Lost ever. They promised something epic, Nestor Carbonell said it felt like a movie, and for us viewers it did as well.

The first revelation we gat was that in 1867 Richard was alive and well on the Canary Islands, and with that math we get him at the ages of 170 and 180 years old taking into affect that he was probably between the ages of 30 or 40 when he came to the Island.

One of the most interesting parts of this story is that it started off with Jacob and Illana talking off Island in her flashback that we saw before that is pre 2007, I was not expecting a continuation of this scene, they continue to talk about the candidates and what Illana needs to do next. How Richard knows what to do next I don’t know, because at this point in the story line he seems like the most lost person on the show.

We next get the revelation that Richard thinks they are in Hell. This is interesting as one of the first theory’s that was out there was that they losties were either in purgatory or in hell.

We then finally learn Richard’s back story, and it is one of the most tragic love stories we have ever seen on this show.

"I see the Devil" - Tarawet. - So a surge of water brought them into the middle of the Jungle - destroying the statue. But what about what we saw in the finale - it was daylight and they were headed toward the island then. There are many theories for this….same ship different day…however the first mate didn’t seem to have a clue as to what was happening. Then there is the perspective theory, what Jacob and MIB saw was different from what the people on the Black Rock saw. And did they really see the Black Rock, or was that a different ship entirely. I’m inclined to believe that what we saw during the finale was the Black Rock. And while it could certainly be a different trip, what makes the most sense to me is the perspective theory, as well, perhaps Richard’s side of the boat was facing away from the island when they first starting approaching it during the day light hours. Many scenarios could be possible.

As for the Surge of water, I’m not so sure that the Black Rock could topple the statue, after all it’s made of stone, the ship is made of wood, now the Titanic I could see it happening, but not the Black Rock. I can defiantly see that storm take the ship into the island; it was a pretty big storm surge.

Next we come to Smokey and his affinity for taking pictures of people…he kills everyone else and lets Richard live. I think it is because he sees Richard is the most desperate, the most malleable to his will, and that’s why he let him survive.

My co worker has a theory that Smokey was not taking pictures of Richard, but just staring him down. I still think he was taking pictures; we have seen the flashing before and seen the images come back to us, so I’m sticking with it.

One problem I do have with this episode is the fact that everyone died on the Black Rock and yet we see the 1st mates Journal off the Island. In fact the whole timeline of the Black Rock is messed up. It could very well be a continuity error but it’s a big one for the time line. And the Journal just confuses me; perhaps someone came to the island and took it off, but still why takes a journal off the island? What would be the purpose of it?

The other question comes in with what was Isabella the first time we saw her on the Island, a ghost? Smokey? Real or something else? The first time I saw it I thought she was a ghost. But now I believe she was Smokey, and MIB was just trying to deceive Richard and play games with him. Some may say…but wait; Isabella and Smokey were in the scene together. I say wrong, they are off screen. Remember the Ben and Alex encounter. The first thing he comes up against is Smokey who presents images to him of his past. Smokey very easily could have done the same sort of thing. Come to Richard as Isabella, play on his heart strings, then get out of eye sight, return to smoke form making noises, and have the sound of someone screaming coming out of him as well. Is this too far fetched? TV guide backs me up in their review:
(TV Guide Article: Richard is visited by his wife’s ghost (a manifestation of Smokey, who reclaims the spectre to Richard’s dismay) and visited by the Man in Black, who declares, “I want to be free, too.”) Some thing else that makes think that this theory is true is that it is exactly what Jacob says to Richard.
So what do you think of this theory?

Another interesting moment in the episode was when Richard and MIB first met on the Black Rock; he describes himself as a friend and touches Richard for a very long time, too long for my taste by someone so evil. He also makes a bargain with Richard in order for him to free him he has to do anything MIB and kill the devil….Jacob

MIB says Jacob Stole his body and soul and the knife is the only way to kill Jacob, however Ben killed Jacob, talked to him even, didn’t have that knife, and still killed him. So what gives what was different?

But what I am most intrigued about is what MIB said that Jacob stole MIB’s body and soul. What does that mean? Is it literal, figurative. There are so many ways I could go with this one, Jacob is now in MIB’s old body, or Jacob took MIB’s old body for something else, or this could be MIB’s original self. But then it could all be an allegory. At the end of the day I just have to realize that I have to wait to get more answers.

Jacob vs. Richard….clear winner Jacob. And it’s the first time we see any violence from him giving Richard a Baptism in the ocean that looks rather painful.

We then get what is the best metaphor for the island so far. The island is a cork keeping the darkness from spreading, like a cork keeps wine from coming out of the bottle. We have to keep the bad genie from coming out of his bottle. And Jacob brings people to the island to prove to MIB that they aren’t corruptible, but then doesn’t help them when MIB tries to kill them or influence them against Jacob. Hence why he then decides to hire Jacob as an intermediary between Jacob and the people he brings the island because as Jacob says “Its all meaningless if I have to step in,” sounds like god talk to me.

The next thing that hits me strongly is that MIB says almost the exact some things to Richard about Jacob as Dogan says to Jack about MIB. Does this mean anything? Or have these things been said to people for generations. And something that is passed down almost.

Something that was not brought up in the podcast was the location of MIB/Richard’s final meeting, the place where he buried the necklace and where he talked to Isabella through Hurley. There is a benches and sitting stones. Is it more ruins? A special place of MIB’s. Or am I seeing too much?

I Loved the Isabella/Hurley/Richard scene, it is very ghost whispery, for your information this is what Hurley says to Isabella in Act 2: this is not translated in the episode.
HURLEY: ¿Por qué? Qué no sé.Sí, te puedo ayudar, pero, yo no sé como encontrarlo. [English] Why? I don't know. Yes, I can help you, but... I don't know how to find him.
It all felt very Ghost Whispery. And was a great moment at the end. “If you don’t stop MIB we all go to Hell” with the last line of the show being from MIB sometime in 1867 “Sooner then you think,” breaking the bottle. My question: so sooner is 140 years….seems like a long time to me.

Over all this was one of the best episodes of Lost ever, even better then the constant. Nestor Carbonell deserves an Emmy. In fact can we just give the whole cast one?